I ended up seeing a faint surge line last night on the OPK, and we decided to go with it. I figured I’d be ovulating either today or tomorrow, so it made sense to go on in, even though the line wasn’t really dark. Plus, I have a friend staying with us tonight, and I didn’t want to have to do it in the morning (for the PCT) while she was in the next room! It’d be much easier to do that early morning “duty” this morning rather than tomorrow. So we did that, and I made it to the office by 8:30. After waiting almost 45 minutes, I was finally called back for the ultrasound. The nurse said my follicles looked good, and that I in fact have not ovulated yet.

So the next nurse came in for the PCT. She took 3 samples of my fluid and said she wanted to see 20 motile sperm in each sample, which would mean the sperm don’t have a problem getting through my fluid. She left the room to check the slides, then came back in and told me there were fewer than 20 (a lot fewer actually—only 5 in the last two slides). This meant that, while the sperm overall are ok (as evidenced by M’s two tests), they’re getting tripped up in my fluid for some reason. So then she says we can do an insemination (IUI) tomorrow if we want. I was totally unprepared for that. I didn’t realize we’d be able to actually do something proactive this month—I figured this cycle would be just for checking things out and doing more tests. She said we could either do the insemination tomorrow, or go home and have sex the next 3 days and see what happens. I went ahead and had her schedule the IUI for tomorrow morning, knowing I could call back and cancel if for some reason we decided to hold off.

Once I said we’d go ahead and schedule it, she said all we’d need is for M to come drop off his sample; I’d come in an hour or so later for the procedure. She said it’s ok for me to do a natural cycle this time, meaning they won’t give me a shot to force the ovulation to happen tomorrow. That might not be necessary since signs point to me ovulating on my own (judging by my charts), so we’d try it naturally first. Sounds good to me, I don’t want any unnecessary shots!

I called M on my way to work and told him we had a decision to make. His response was along the lines of, “What’s to decide?!” So, much to our surprise, we’re having an IUI tomorrow at 9:15. I made sure to tell him that having this procedure is in no way a guarantee, that there are many women who have several of these back to back, etc. I have to keep telling myself that so I won’t get my hopes up. I also am hoping that if it doesn’t work, I don’t get dejected. I’ve been praying off and on since I got out of the appointment, asking that God will just allow his will to be carried out, and that He’ll give us whatever is his best. I know that even though we’re having this done tomorrow, whether or not we conceive is still in His hands, not Dr. H’s hands. (Incidentally, my doctor is the one on call tomorrow, so she’ll be doing the procedure. Not that that matters all that much. I’ve seen several different nurses and staff between the two appointments I’ve had, and they’re all very nice and encouraging.)

They also did a little more blood work on me this morning. I was a little concerned because the last time I went, they took four vials of blood and I got woozy afterwards. This morning, because I hadn’t eaten since about 9:00 last night, I was worried I might be woozier or even possibly pass out if they took that much blood again. Thankfully, they only took one vial and I was fine. They’ve already left me a message on my patient voicemail box saying my estradiol and progesterone levels were both very good and everything is on track for the IUI tomorrow.